"X" Marks the Spot (again)

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "X".

Here's what I know about the letter, "X". It doesn't really like being first. This is no exaggeration. I don't exactly understand why it doesn't like to be first, but it seems that it prefers to be second. To further exemplify, it would seem to have a letter preference to follow. It is quite exclusive, if you know what I mean. Rather than exhaust this topic of letter placement, I hope you will excuse me! Me and this rather shy letter, "X".

And, we all know that "X" marks the spot!

Xerophyte

A plant that can grow in dry places, such as this cactus.

Xnty.

An abbreviation for Christianity.

Xenolith

I got this image of xenolith from this site here.

Xylem

It's the 'transportation' system for vascular plants-it is how water and nutrients are transported throughout the plant.

I hope you check out the You Tube video I posted with this. It does have to do with the letter, "X"!

I'll see you here at ABC Wednesday next year!

...And The Singing Duckie TOo!

This little guy sits on top of a music box that is a piano, which in turn sits on top of our piano.

You can insert the song you think he's singing!

More Albuquerque Railyard shots

These windows are on the east side of the main building. The next shot is on the opposite end looking down the way at these windows. Just for perspective.

A mighty big place with mighty big shadows.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

It is hard to believe that this is the last Shadow Shot Sunday post for 2009! Where did the year go? Quickly, that's all I can say!

Of course, we'll be back next year with more of our shadow shots as long as our gracious host, Traci continues. Thank you, Traci (self doubt here...or, is it Tracey?) for being such a fabulous host for our shadow shot addiction!

Christmas Eve 2009

John's Angel

Christmas Eve 2009

Or, is it Santa’s Eve? : )

It seems like the tug of war between the secular and sacred pulls very hard. I could go on and on in regards to this topic, but I will leave it be. It is what it is, after all!

This is a photo I did last year of our decorated tree. A multiple exposure (no Photoshop magic involved). Perhaps my most favorite ornament (oh, and many of the ornaments are my favorite but this one is the favorite) is the angel on the left. John made that when he was in kindergarten.

I just love it. It reminds me of the sweet young boy I used to have! He is still sweet, but it is laced with doses of sarcasm of an 18 year old teenager!

It is special, this time of year. Especially if you can get past or not get consumed in the hustle and bustle of all the things you think you’re supposed to get done by Dec. 25. But really, the Christmas Season BEGINS on the 25th and runs for 12 days.

However you choose to celebrate this Season of Light, I hope it finds you in a good place with good people. May you surround yourself with all the positive energy possible!

Peace on Earth starts with good will towards all.

Have a Blessed Holiday!

Who's Wide-Eyed and Wonderous on Wednesday?

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "W".

Window Box

I thought that all of you who are digging your way out of snow and everything else that is cold and wintery would appreciate this! I'm sure those in the Southern Hemisphere are saying, "what cold?". A lovely window box at a B&B out in Jemez, New Mexico.

Watermelon

You know, I saw some of these in the grocery store the other day. Amazing what you can get year 'round! These watermelons are called 'personal size' watermelons as they are small and rather cute! Tasty too if you like watermelon. They are the size of a bowling ball.

Wishbone

My sister's dog. They live in Hilo. He's been with them for about 14 years now. Don't be fooled by that "I've been abused!" look on is face! He has been spoiled all his life. I recall that when my nephew was born, my sister, her 6'2" tall husband, this dog AND the baby all slept in a queen sized bed! Guess who got most of the bed??? Yep. You guessed right! Pretty funny if you ask me.

Wisteria

Oh, I know the flowers are beautiful (and not just because they are purple). But when the vines get some years on them, they acquire such character! These are well trained vines on the patio of my friend, Julie Gorwoda. Each year she would wrap them around the posts as they grow.

Alright...let's see if you know these:

Weir. A small, over-flow type damn used to raise the level of streams.

Whammy. A powerful, supernatural force. You might be more familiar with this word in the context of, "double whammy".

Wicket. A small door or gate usually beside or within a larger one for use when this is not open. Or, a small opening in a door or wall, as in a theater's ticket booth. Also, the hoop through which the ball must be driven through in the game of croquet. There is also a cricket reference to this term-too lengthy to post here.

Wolframite. An iron manganese tungstate mineral. You know the tungsten they use in light bulbs? This is where that comes from! Very curious indeed.

Now that we've gotten through the wacky W's, I won't say that I might be a wee bit concerned that next week is "X"!! Time to go a hunting!

Sacred Spaces

The Albuquerque Railyards

I still haven't found a date when the Albuquerque Railyards were built. I do know that in 1977, the Santa Fe Rail shut down the machines, relocated its employees and locked up the property.

When it was built (I'm thinking that it might have been completed around 1922), there were 3 large buildings made of metal frame and glass shell. It occupied 27 acres and totaled 350,000 square feet. The buildings were modeled after a Ford plant.

The city now owns the property and I think the city's movie studios are in charge of renting out the space for movie and photo shoots. These images are from a Flickr photo shoot I participated in last weekend.

There are lots of areas where the workers could wash up in. There were usually 200-300 people on one shift and there were 3 shifts a day. That's a lot of grease and people-washing that took place daily!

Before the city started managing this property, a lot of homeless men 'lived' here. A lot of kids came in and made their mark, so spray art and graffiti are abundant. Oh, but the pigeons reigned supreme! Feathers and bird poop everywhere-not as much as there was before they rented out for movie shoots. Watch the latest version of "The Terminator" and know that many scenes were shot here.

These are the really serious hand washing stations! Are you getting a sense of scale from this image?

These are shadows from broken windows on a pool of water.

Step back a little further and you see the broken windows that created those shadows. But, look closely as you are still looking at that pool of water on the floor!

Now you can see the two previous images in this shot. This is the 'big perspective'! This is a pretty awesome space, these buildings. You can still feel the energy from the people who worked here for so many years. Really good, positive energy as they all had to look out for each other due to the hazards of the job.

I have more images from this photo shoot on the Flickr Photostream button in the left margin of this blog. More will be posted over time.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

Valiant V's Volley for Victory!!

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "V".

Votive Candles

Each candle is lit as a special prayer offering for someone or something. These votive candles were in a church located in a Monastery in Abiqui, NM (called, "Christ in the Desert"). Look closely at the wall behind it. It's an adobe wall constructed from mud and straw. You can see the flecks of straw.

Vertebrae

On a wall. In a garden. In Jemez. Why there? Why not?

Virgin Mary

This beautiful statue is located in a cemetery near Hilo, HI.

Veggie Stand

OK, so you won't find the word, "veggie stand" in the dictionary! But, it is in our day to day vocabulary, so why not? This one is at the Farmer's Market in Seattle. And, if you had stories to tell about these veggies, you would have "Veggie Tales", wouldn't you? Oh, I'm sorry. That was bad!!

OH, yes...more V's, please!

Vacuity. An empty space. A vacuum. The inside of my head sometime feels like the first one. An empty space! And it's not the last frontier!

Vapid. Lacking or having lost life, sharpness, or flavor; insipid. I think I prefer to use insipid instead!

Verger. My Oxford paperback dictionary defines this word as: 1. a sexton 2. an official who carries the mace, etc. before a bishop or other dignitary.Really. This is how it was worded!

Vitreous. I love this word. A good example is the image I posted in the post before this one (glass graffiti).

Be sure to come back next week for the whacky w's!

Glass Graffiti

Oh, I am soooo tired from today's expedition. But, it was well worth the effort! One of my favorite subjects to shoot is the Albuquerque Railyard. It is difficult to get permission to go there as movie shoots get priority over anything else.

The place is massive (see previous posts on this blog by typing in "Albuquerque Railyard" in the search box). So, my tactic for the day was windows, graffiti, shadows and just a few 'landscape' shots. For the most part, anyway. One is easily distracted there!

I like these two shots of glass graffiti.

There are many, many, many glass windows there. And, many of the glass windows that have broken were replaced with fiberglass panes (they are green panes). But the glass is a safety glass that is thick and with 'chicken wire' sandwiched between the layers.

If I weren't so tired, I'd post a few more. I shall be back later to do so!

Curiously Satisfying!

One perfect fall day just a few weeks ago...

A lovely trip up to Santa Fe and up the infamous Canyon Road which is reputed for the door to door art galleries. The sun was warm and lazy. I don't know if was my imagination, but there seemed to be an unusual amount of really cool shadows to be had.

The only regret I have about this swing is not taking the time to sit on it and swing! What's WRONG with me??? No, better to leave that as a rhetorical question!

Skinny little tree trunks trying to out do the carpet of cottonwood leaves.

Doesn't that sunlight make you feel languid and lazy?

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

Ux

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "U".

UX

"U". A tough letter indeed; although there are lots and lots of "U" words out there, most of them start with "un".

UX: in genealogical records, signifies the wife. It is a Latin based word (uxor). Curious piece of information, I thought. This is my mother's mother, Grandma Frese, wife of Gustav Frese. This is her wedding photo-Grandpa is standing next to her. I did not grow up knowing her as she lived in Illinois and I was on Molokai. However, whenever I look at her face, I feel a connection and a sense of familiarity.

Umbrella

Umbrella: it is an obvious choice for "U", but this one was hanging on the ceiling of a kaleidoscope shop in Old Town. I loved the vivid colors in it.

Urtica

Urtica. AKA: stinging nettles. Have you ever brushed up against one of these plants? I found out the hard way why they are named, "stinging nettles"! However, the plant has very useful medicinal values which are far more effective than many of the pharmaceuticals out there. I have an ointment of this and it is the best thing to use on burns. The burn pain subsides so much faster and the healing process is incredibly quick. There are many more applications of this plant product (check out the link).

Udder

Udder! I wish this was a photo I took, but it is not! I don't think the source I got it from can claim it as theirs either! So, my apologies to whoever took it, but credit wasn't listed where I could find it. We used to raise cows for milk production (a family of six on Molokai is tough to feed). Daddy used to do the milking of the cows-most of them were Holstein (like this one here). This udder is really full of milk!

Here are some other "u" words for your entertainment:

Untous (or, unction). Being Catholic, this is not a foreign word as extreme unction is a Sacrament that is administered to one who is about to die. It is a blessing administered by a priest; an anointment.

Uracil. A common and naturally occurring pyrimidine derivative. Common? I'll bet this is a new word for most of us! Anyway, it's applications seems to be mostly pharmaceutical and in drug delivery (whatever THAT means!).

Ursine. If you've ever studied the stars at night and looked for Ursa Major, you've brushed up with this word! Ursa is Great Bear in Latin.

Umbra. Ooooh....this is a really good word!! I'll have to use it in my Shadow Shot Sunday posting! It is one of the three distinct parts of a shadow. It is also known as the shadow cast by the Earth or the moon in a total eclipse.

There you have it for today! I can't believe that we are doing the "U's" already. I hope Denise is up for another round of ABC Wednesday, don't you?

Twin Tree Creatures

Dead tree trunks decked out rather artfully at the Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque.

These kind of go with the Tweaked Tree from my previous post! Anyway, I think they're pretty cool looking-a great treatment to something quite ordinary that would be consideration for hauling off to the dump.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

All A Twitter and Teased by T's

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "T".

A Tweaked Tree

Say that five times real fast!!! Tweaked in Photoshop, of course...

Turkey Feathers

No, not last week's turkey! This was in someone's garage that I was visiting and I found these to be a curious sight.

Ti Leaf Plant

We have these all over Hawaii. The leafs are pulled off the plant (without stripping the plant bare) and 'sewn' together to make hula skirts with. The leaves also make wonderful 'packages' or 'envelopes' in with which to steam food in.

Tome Hill (photo taken by my friend, Andrea Padilla)

Tome Hill in the town of Tome south of Albuquerque (there's and accent over the 'e' in Tome and you pronounce it "toe may"). My friend's uncle went off to war in WW (I hope I have this story correct)and I guess he had some rather harrowing times and vowed that if he made it home safely he would find a way to thank the Lord. He did make it home safely and he put three crosses on the hill in Tome. Many people make a pilgrimage to this hill-particularly during Easter Holy week. I don't know if these crosses are the original crosses that he erected, but it is a very distinct landmark.

Ready for more "T's"?

Taffrail. The railing around the stern of a ship (sometimes ornately carved).The Soleil Royale is a perfect example of having taffrails.

Thermionic. Science again, here! This one is a bit complicated to explain here (the link might help), but the classical example of thermionic emission is the emission of electrons from a hot metal cathode into a vacuum (archaically known as the Edison effect) used in vacuum tubes.

Thermocline. More science! It's my muse, you know...anyway, it's about stratification. It's that thin layer in a large body of water or air that is the separation of temperatures. If you've done any amount of swimming in your lifetime, you may have experienced it on a smaller scale when you feel a mix of warm and cold water around you.

Traduce. Our 'news media' and I use the word, news lightly as they are more sensationalists than anything else, seem to be a large source of traducers. I include the AP (Associated Press here). Ill used energy, I say and certainly they are not what they pretend to be.